Health officials to canvass Durham for health assessment survey

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The Durham County Department of Public Health and the Partnership for a Healthy Durham want to know how you feel about health issues in Durham – and they just might be coming to your doorstep in the coming weeks.

The door-to-door visits are part of Durham’s Community Health Assessment, conducted every three years for public health planning. Surveying will take place over a two-week period from Sept. 25 to 28, and again from Oct. 4 to 5, between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. This survey will also have a special focus on gathering information on health status and priorities from Durham’s Latino community. A team of bilingual interviewers will conduct interviews with randomly selected households with Latino residents on Sept. 25, 26 and Oct. 5.

Using census data and geographic information system technology, 420 households will be randomly selected to participate in this survey. Survey team members, wearing lime green T-shirts and identification, will visit homes for a 20-minute, face-to-face interview, entering information collected into a handheld electronic device. All data collected is confidential and will not be linked to any individual. Participants will receive a special “thank you” gift for their time and opinion.

Questions on the survey will include identifying the most important community and health problems in the county, access to healthcare, emergency preparedness and personal demographics.

Information from the community survey will be used to develop a comprehensive report and community health forums will subsequently follow. At that time, all community residents, local leaders, and elected officials will have an opportunity to assist in setting the local health priorities to address major community health issues for the next three years. After this feedback is incorporated, the final report will be released to the public in early 2015.